Forum:Infos from Official Strategy Guide
I will add some missing infos here. Under circumstances, these informations can be used to fill empty pages later on. This time, I'll write about the Creation of the world map. I also plan to write about Food & Population Growth and Fame;perhaps also about Lairs & Rewards. World Map Creation Process Some things you might find interesting: * both Arcanus and Myrror are 60 squares wide by 40 squares high * roughly 15|20|30 % are covered by land for Small|Medium|Large landmass * maximal 10 rivers, 8 major desert regions, 8 major swamp regions on each plane * tundra only within 7 squares of top or bottom map edge * special terrain feature: '''each terrain square (hill,mountain,desert,forest,swamp) on Arcanus|Myrror has a 1 in 17|10 chance for resources * Arcanus desert: 2|1|0 in 3 chance of Gems|Quark|Crysx * Myrror desert: 1|3|1 in 5 chance of Gems|Quark|Crysx * Arcanus hills: 6|3|4|4|1|0 in 18 chance of Iron|Coal|Silver|Gold|Mithryl|Adamantium * Myrror hills: 1|1|1|4|2|1 in 10 chance of Iron|Coal|Silver|Gold|Mithryl|Adamantium * Arcanus mountains: 4|5|3|3|3|0 in 18 chance of Iron|Coal|Silver|Gold|Mithryl|Adamantium * Myrror mountains: 1|1|1|2|3|2 in 10 chance of Iron|Coal|Silver|Gold|Mithryl|Adamantium * exactly 6 '''Towers of Wizardry on both planes (same locations) * usually surrounded by a bigger landmass on the other side (Myrror?) * usually at least 10 squares apart from each other * at least 4 squares away from Nodes * exactly 16 nodes on Arcanus and 14 on Myrror * neighbouring terrain often determines color of node -> more blue nodes * maximum number of blue nodes is 9 on Arcanus and 8 (?) on Myrror (guide says 4, this is obviously wrong) * 5 to 10 aura squares per node on Arcanus, 10 to 20 on Myrror * unrelated info: 0.5|1|1.5 power base per aura square for Weak|Normal|Powerful Magic setting * Wizard fortresses: at least 2 squares away from top and bottom map edges * usually 16 squares apart from each other, but never less than 10 * if possible 8 squares apart from node, but adjacent is possible * if possible 4 squares apart from Tower of Wizardry, but adjacent is possible * 15 neutral cities in total, randomly distributed on both planes * my note: number of neutral cities depends on landmass but not on number of wizards; I got 25-27 for Large landmass and 8-9 for Small landmass * every contiguous land mass has a continental race; each city on that island has a 75 % chance of being inhabited by that race * starting population is 1 to 4 for Intro & Easy, 2 to 5 for Normal, 80 % chance of 2 to 5 and 20 % chance of 2 to 11 for Hard & Impossible * starting buildings depend on starting population, here the minimum requirements: * 2 barracks, 3 smithy, 4 builder's hall, 5 armory, 7 granary, 8 stables, 10 city walls * grow at half normal rate, maximal plus 2|4|6|8|10 beyond starting population for Intro|Easy|Normal|Hard|Impossible * unrelated info: maximum garrison size is equal to population; if it is exceeded, the oldest unit will be disband * exactly 25 normal lairs and 32 weak lairs (my note: still haven't looked at this yet) RJAK (talk) 22:25, August 7, 2013 (UTC) ::Great, now I know that I counted correctly! I had the 30 nodes although I had not bothered to separate them to the point that I know there were always 16 on Arcanus and 14 on Myrror. I also had the count for the number of lairs at 56 or 57, but I hadn't classified them into normal or weak. I agree with your note about land mass and the number of cities. I hope you don't mind, I corrected some spelling. Thanks for the information! MysticX2 (talk) 00:08, August 8, 2013 (UTC) :>>unrelated info: maximum garrison size is equal to population; if it is exceeded, the oldest (most experienced) unit will be disband :Lol what??? Do you mean like food production automatical disband mechanism or something? Or garrisons for towns with less than 9 pop are capped? Twilight Sparkle the Alicorn Princess (talk) 03:16, August 8, 2013 (UTC) ::Yes, garrisons for towns with less than 9 pop are capped. Let's assume a town of size 4. It might happen that there's a 5th unit, but next round the oldest unit will disappear. So an outdated unit can be replaced by a stronger unit (e.g. Swordsmen -> Halberdiers), on the other hand units will never be elite level, if you don't attack the town before you conquer it. RJAK (talk) 04:54, August 8, 2013 (UTC) ::: Interesting. Does it apply to player's cities, or to fantastic creatures defending neutral towns (look at my talk page)? Twilight Sparkle the Alicorn Princess (talk) 05:37, August 8, 2013 (UTC) :::::This doesn't apply to cities of enemy wizards. I have seen towns of size 2, that built 9 Spearmen units. But after those towns become neutral (defeating the wizard), 1 unit will be disband every round until it matches the town's size. Dunno about fantastic creatures defending neutral towns. I assume, they will be replaced eventually. RJAK (talk) 07:09, August 8, 2013 (UTC) :::I believe it is not the oldest unit, but the weakest unit. I like Serena (talk) 23:51, August 8, 2013 (UTC) ::::Lowest current hits? Maximal hits? Lowest attack/defence/resistance score? Lowest figures? Twilight Sparkle the Alicorn Princess (talk) 02:44, August 9, 2013 (UTC) ::::::Wait a minute... where did I see that again... oh yeah, there it is. ::::::Nope, nothing so advanced. ::::::The garrison units are pruned based on their building cost. ::::::Once a unit's building cost is less than half of the average garrison unit building cost, they are pruned. ::::::I see no link to the population size. ::::::However, the average garrison unit building cost is only updated once every 25 turns and for the first time in turn 100. So there is a window of opportunity there, since the clean up might leave cities (almost) empty! I like Serena (talk) 12:44, August 9, 2013 (UTC) :::::::Kewl, getting ready for blitzkrieg on neutral cities every 25 turns. Twilight Sparkle the Alicorn Princess (talk) 13:04, August 9, 2013 (UTC) :::::::::Aherm... I'm afraid I've got some bad news. It only works that way for your opponents. Oh, and it starts at turn 100 (edited). Neutral cities are not pruned like that. Actually, I don't see pruning code for neutral cities. I like Serena (talk) ::::::::::Still good, since opponents tend to produce or summon a lot of units and chew up world unit limit quickly. Twilight Sparkle the Alicorn Princess (talk) 17:23, August 11, 2013 (UTC) Fame How do you gain Fame? * +1 defeating 4+ enemy units in a single battle (only when winning?) * +1 winning a battle where the enemy lost a very rare creature * (in a 50+ turn battle defender is deemed to have won) * +1 conquering a town (9 to 12 pop) * +2 conquering a city (13 to 16 pop) * +3 conquering a capital (17+ pop) * +5 banishing computer player * +10 having the wizard skill Famous * +10 casting and maintaining Just Cause * +# having a Legendary hero rating (legendary -> 3*herolevel, superlegendary -> 4.5 * herolevel) * (my note: you'll never lose the points coming from Just Cause & Legendary; player's base Fame can't go below 0) How do you lose Fame? * -1 losing 4+ units in a single battle and having more than 20 Fame * -# losing a hero, Fame loss is half of the hero's level * -1 razing or losing a hamlet (1 to 4 pop) * -2 razing or losing a village (5 to 8 pop) * -3 razing or losing a town (9 to 12 pop) * -4 razing or losing a city (13 to 16 pop) * -5 razing or losing a capital (17+ pop) * (if you raze a town, you won't get the Fame rewards for conquering it) * (my note: bonus for defeating units & banishing wizards is applied after malus for razing or losing) * (e.g. you have 0 Fame and raze the wizard's fortress (4+ units) -> you'll leave the battle with 6 Fame) What is Fame good for? * army maintance cost is reduced by number of Fame points (if you have more Fame points than army upkeep costs, then you have to pay no maintanance costs) * increases frequency of hero, mercenary and item offers (enough gold required) * influence the quality of heroes and quality & quantity of mercenaries (see below) How does Fame affect frequency of offers? * chance that a hero will offer services = 3% + Fame/25 * chance that a Mercanary will come by = 1% + Fame/20 * chance that a Merchant will offer an item = 2% + Fame/25 * all 3 numbers multiplied by 2 if Famous * hero chances are devided by ( 3 + number of heroes )/2 * (as always all numbers are rounded down, when division is used; e.g. if you have 1 hero and 24 fame, chance for a new hero is 1 %) * all 3 probabilities are capped at 10 % (even if Famous) * Mercenaries will offer items which costs less than a third (or half if you're Charismatic) of your gold reserves * frequency table for hero offers without Famous: * frequency table for hero offers with Famous: How does Fame affect Mercenary quantity and quality? * at the begin of a turn, game chooses a ramdom integer number between 1 and 100 and adds Fame * if result is 60 or below, offer 1 unit or regular troop quality (20 exp.) * if result is between 61 and 90, 2 units or elite troop quality (60 exp.) * if result is 91 or above, offer 3 units or elite troop quality (120 exp.) * (my note: Dunno what "1 unit or Regulars" means; the Official Strategy Guide doesn't explain what unit types will offer, I can't imagine that it just depends on your gold reserves) RJAK (talk) 07:12, August 9, 2013 (UTC) : Thanks for the info, I am a fame-junkie. :D MysticX2 (talk) 09:59, August 9, 2013 (UTC) The actual probability on a hero being offered is a bit lower. The problem is that when the game tries to offer a hero, it rolls randomly which hero you will get. But if the hero is out of reach of your fame or book prerequisites, (s)he won't actually show up. I like Serena (talk) 18:23, August 10, 2013 (UTC) : Can you go a little bit more into detail? If I use Just Cause at the beginning, chances roughly stay the same, although there're double as many heroes you can get with 10 Fame. So, I think you mean something like that: If random number (out of 100) is smaller than the percentages listed above, then roll a hero. If prerequisites aren't fulfilled, roll again. If rolling fails 3 times, give no hero at all. RJAK (talk) 21:37, August 10, 2013 (UTC) When a hero decides to consider you, he looks whether you have fame enough to meet his fame requirement. He also checks if you have Life books or Death books (if the hero is the Priestess, the Paladin, the Black Knight, or the Necromancer). Finally, he checks whether you have enough money. If you don't meet the heroes requirements he passes you over. Since there are only 10 fame zero heroes out of 34 possible heroes (excluding Torin), your chances are effectively multiplied by 10/34 at the start of a game.I like Serena (talk) 21:45, August 10, 2013 (UTC) It's easy enough to check. If you start a game, you will find that in general you won't get a hero in the first 33 turns. It's more like the first 100 turns (actually 0.9% per turn starting from the moment that you have enough gold).I like Serena (talk) 22:07, August 10, 2013 (UTC) Hmm, I just checked the code again. It appears the game tries 10 times to find a suitable hero before giving up. So now I'm confused, since I know for sure that you won't get a hero in 33 turns on average.I like Serena (talk) 00:14, August 11, 2013 (UTC) : Thanks. I cam pretty sure, that it doesn't hand out a hero every 100 turns, if you have 0 Fame. Otherwise this means, heroes would show up as seldom as Mercenaries. RJAK (talk) 05:12, August 11, 2013 (UTC) Try it. Start a game, gather at least 100 gp, and wait until the first hero shows up. You will see that the turn it does is statistically not possible with 3% per turn.I like Serena (talk) 08:51, August 11, 2013 (UTC) Colors of Ranged Magic and Special Attacks The following table tells you, when Bless, Resist Elements, Elemental Armor and Righteousness are working (and when not). Note that Resist Magic isn't listed, as it doesn't increase shields as those other protective spells do. Among others, Resist Magic works against all attacks listed under black color. * all ranged magic, gaze, and breath attacks have a color attached to them * certain spells can confer protection to specific attack colors * poison attacks are considered colorless * dispel evil (spell and unit ability) is considered a white attack (is there a protective spell except Magic Immunity?) * my note: It's interesting that Lightning Breath is considered a red attack. I have checked it with Righteousness. Aerie ignores Magic Immunity, if Immunity to Illusions isn't present. Dunno why Illusionary is listed. The only Illusionary attack which is stopped by Magic Immunity is Psionic Blast. RJAK (talk) 06:33, August 11, 2013 (UTC) Game difficulty Here a list of things, which difficulty settings influence (CP stands for Computer Player): * limited starting races on Arcanus are: Halflings, High Elves, High Men, Klackons, Nomads * CP Spell Research Multiple multiplies the ajusted total research on a per city basis (this should mean only research from Libraries, Universities, Sages & Wizards Guilds is multiplied by this, and not all mana spent in research) * my note: the restriction "at least 1 CP must start on Myrror" is not true when playing against 1 opponent only (not sure about 2 & 3 opponents); under circumstances CPs fleeing success rate is increased on higher difficulty settings; I also think your heroes appear more often on Intro RJAK (talk) 06:10, August 12, 2013 (UTC) Other stuff Fleeing from battle * non-hero units have a 50 % chance of dying * heroes have a 25 % chance of dying, 0 % if you play on Easy and Intro levels * my note: I think chances of dying are bigger on Impossible Victory Point Formula * +1 Point for each spell in your spell book * +1/2 Point per citizen * +2 Points per Fame * +50 Points per banished wizard * +250 Points for casting the Spell of Mastery * +2000 points for the winner, minus 2 points per game turn played * difficulty multiplicator: 0.5|0.75|1|2|3 for Intro|Easy|Normal|Hard|Impossible * percent score = Points divided by 8000 RJAK (talk) 16:01, August 10, 2013 (UTC) :I have +50 points per banished wizard and +250 points for the Spell of Mastery, and that 2000 is what you start with but is reduced by the -2 per month/turn and then displayed next to the year. MysticX2 (talk) 01:02, August 11, 2013 (UTC) :::Thanks, changed it. The Official Strategy Guide came out prior to version 1.3. Perhaps, they changed it afterwards. RJAK (talk) 05:17, August 11, 2013 (UTC)